The Bee Dungeon

The gardeners flew forward, the queens hovering back to make room for them. They flew amongst themselves, milling about and exchanging dances and pheromones for a few minutes. Eventually, one of them slowly flew forward, beginning an unsteady dance.

“Sorry, don’t know.”

Belissar smiled and shook his head.

“It’s alright, I just wanted to check if you did. Is there anything you think we might need for that?”

The gardeners convened once more before the responder returned to answer again.

“Sorry, don’t know. Maybe new flowers, or more mana.”

Belissar nodded.

“Got it, I’ll see what I can do then. You all just keep up the good work and let me know if the flowers need anything.”

The gardeners saluted at that, leaving Belissar to rub his chin. At first, he had thought that maybe a new monster choice might give him a chance to fulfill the God of Flowers’ mission. He quickly dispelled that notion, though. He hadn’t yet seen any monster choices that weren’t bees, so the odds were low that he’d get a flower monster. More importantly, the mission specifically said he had to complete it with the help of his bees, so getting a flower monster by a choice might not work even if he was offered one.

Still, that didn’t mean choices couldn’t help here. If they needed a specific environment, he could try to pick an appropriate room. If they needed a specific object, or more plants, then maybe a feature could help. And Cross-Pollination itself was a perk, so there might be an answer there as well. The problem was that Belissar didn’t know what would or wouldn’t help in general. He had no idea how to raise a monster flower, or what would be needed to do so. He figured cross-pollination and the gardeners would be the key, but how exactly he wasn’t sure. So, if the gardeners didn’t know any specific requirements, they’d just have to try different methods until they learned what worked.

He turned to Chief Rohsuak one more time.

“Do you or any of the karnuq know anything about monster flowers? Juosiutik, maybe?”

Chief Rohsuak thought for a moment.

“I will ask her but…in my memory, our interactions with monster plants were minimal. There were some magical plants in the Sacred Dens I’ve visited, though I am not certain if any of them were monster flowers specifically. We also encountered a few monstrous plants on our journey but, as you may imagine, most of our interactions were short and violent. I can tell you which of them were flammable, but not how they grew.”

Belissar rubbed his chin and then nodded.

“Ok, could you ask Juosiutik and let me know whatever you do know? I’ll hold off on any purchases until then.”

Chief Rohsuak nodded. Belissar wanted to make the purchases sooner rather than later but figured that one day wouldn’t hurt. He might as well wait for as much information as he could. He turned to the gardeners once more.

“Um, as you may have guessed, we have a mission from a god to raise a monster flower. I think for now, just try to cross-pollinate as many new types of flowers as we can and let me know if there are any you think could become a monster flower. Also, let’s try to plant as many flowers as we can in the Fairy Grove, maybe you all could coordinate to make sure we get them all?”

The gardeners all saluted as one at that. Belissar smiled at them.

“Thank you. That was all I needed you girls for, so you can go home now.”

The gardeners saluted and checked with their queens, who sent them home at Belissar’s command. Belissar then nodded at Chief Rohsuak and all of the queens save for those who lived in the battle meadow.

“That was all for everyone, we’ll meet again tomorrow to decide on the purchases. I do need to talk to the Bee Barracks queens, but the rest of you can head home for the night.”

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Belissar turned to the queens in question while Chief Rohsuak and the other bees dispersed. He pointed over to the stack of rocks.

“So, I guess it’s a bit late to ask this but…how would you all feel about turning the Bee Barracks to stone? Would that make things more or less comfortable for you?” 𐍂äΝȫBÊṠ

The Second First of the First took the lead and responded immediately.

“Would make barracks stronger?”

Belissar nodded.

“At least, harder to destroy.”

The Second First of the First immediately danced the affirmative.

“Whatever King chooses!”

All of the other battle meadow queens followed suit. Belissar made an amused smile. He figured that’s how they would respond but wanted to at least ask.

“Got it, are you and your hives ready to upgrade now or should we wait for tomorrow morning?”

“Can now!”

Belissar nodded and focused on the Bee Barracks.

Bee Barracks Upgrades:

- Swap to Bee Apartment (Cost: 25 DP)

- Change material to stone (Cost: 200 DP or 50 if materials provided)

- Boost growth for inhabitants (Cost: 50 DP)

- Boost coordination for inhabitants (Cost: 50 DP)

He selected the change material option, confirming that he had provided enough material for the discount. The Bee Barracks and the stack of stone blocks next to it both began to glow. A moment later the light faded, and the stone pile had vanished entirely.

The Bee Barracks itself now had stone walls, a stone roof, and a stone floor. Belissar looked inside with his tower sight and found the frames remained wood, though some of the pillars that held them in place had converted to stone as well.

He turned to the queens, intending to ask them what they thought. He found them already dancing in the air.

“Amazing, incredible!”

He smiled at that.

“Glad you like it.”

It seemed far tougher than before, though Belissar hoped it would never be put to the test.

The next day, Belissar awoke, intending to hear the reports, eat his breakfast, and then make his gathering and tribute rounds as usual. His eyes widened as he stepped out of the bedroom, however, to find the Second First of the First, the First of the Fifth, the Third of the Sixth, and the Fourth of the Seventh queens all waiting for him. The queens saluted as soon he stepped in while Niobee danced before him.

“King! Queens came to report for shortcuts! Talked together”

Belissar smiled.

“Thank you all. Shall we get to it, then?”

“Ok! First of the Fifth’s First Daughter had idea. Give all rooms and entrance shortcut to Orchard, so all bees can go to all rooms or outside! All queens want too!”

Belissar’s eyes widened a bit as all the queens danced to confirm Niobee’s report.

“Ah…that’s a good idea!”

The queens danced happily, especially the Fourth of the Seventh, at his response. Belissar went ahead and thought about shortcuts. Once again, his tower sight zoomed out to show the Tower as a whole. A transparent door appeared in his sight along the Apiary wall, which he could move about. He could move it along the walls or even the ground, the door transforming to a tunnel entrance when he did. He ended up placing it on the Apiary wall closest to the bee apartments for easy access. He then had a variety of options on the door’s appearance. He could leave it visible as any other entrance, but also had options to conceal the door from those not permitted to use it, or to hide it all together. For now, he chose to conceal it from those not permitted.

A transparent second door then appeared. Belissar could move this one out of the room entirely, which he did. He took it all the way down to Orchard, then placed it on the front wall close to the bees’ grove. The two doors then materialized as Belissar confirmed the placement.

Once he did, another message appeared.

Shortcut (2F Orchard – 4F Apiary) Permissions:

- Defenders: All permitted

- Challengers: All permitted

- Specific individuals allowed: none

- Specific individuals denied: none

As described, Belissar was able to adjust who could use the shortcut. Defenders could be set to specify monsters or sworn defenders only, or none. Challengers included numerous groupings, such as allowing or blocking animals, or those blessed by a particular god. For now…Belissar blocked all challengers, setting this shortcut to defenders only. For now, he left it on all defenders; while he mainly intended this one for his bees, he trusted the karnuq enough not to block them without reason. They hadn’t left their area of the Tower without permission in any case.

“Ok, set one up. Shall we check it out?”

“Ok!”

Niobee and the queens all followed along as Belissar left the Apiary farmhouse and walked past the Bee Apartments. There a new door opened up within the tree wall surrounding the room, displaying the Orchard. Belissar stepped through, and found himself right in the Orchard. It was no different than stepping through the other room entrances.

He smiled as the bees flew through and began zipping about.

“This seems pretty useful.”

From there, he did as suggested, and created a shortcut between every room, save the karnuq rooms, and the Orchard, as well as one that led right to the Tower’s exit. Now, the Orchard wall by the grove was full of doors…and his bees could go anywhere they liked.

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